CH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
They do not feel responsible for the satisfaction of their clients
I was doing the 1day Chobe trip. We were 7 tourists leaving victoria falls for the Zim-Botswana border. We were early and arrived at the border before the crowds, so the checks at the Zim border were straight forward. Then they split our group, 4 could continue immediately, 3 of us had to stay and wait for others customers. Busloads of tourists arrived and after about 1 hour also our customers, we were waiting for, arrived. Now at the Botswana border it took ages to pass the checks. We started our game drive at 10.30 with a long delay. At that time you hardly see any animals anymore. Lunch was good and the river cruise as well. Then we went back and after the Zim border we had to wait again for another 45 minutes for 1 tourist we originally started with. On the way back to Victoria Falls I complained to the organisator, why on earth they splitted our group, since we were 7, could stay together and wouln't have to spend about 2.5 hours at the border. The answer was that it happened on the Botswana side and they would not be responsible. That might be partly true, but the organiser who takes the money, should try to make things better and can't just say, that it's none of their business.
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Can't trust Silas
Sadly I have to agree with some of the reviews about Apodiformes Adventures.
During the hiring process, Silas, the owner of Apodiformes replied to my messages right away, adapting to our needs and promising an exceptional quality of service.
Being our honeymoon, we hired a safari considered luxury (over 4000 EUR for 5 nights), requesting booking at very specific accommodations.
Until we formalized the reservation (transfer of 40% of the total) evething was fine. Once the payment was done the problems started to show up. The most wanted accomodation, Enkewa in Masai Mara, did not accept the reservation for not complying with their conditions (minimum 3 nights stay and take care of safaris in Masai Mara). Silas lied that they knew the accommodation and had previously worked.
The alternative was Olengoti Eco Camp, this accommodation has two types of room, tent and bungalow. The bungalow was requested (and paid for). Upon arrival at the Camp, the staff informed that our booking was at the inferior category and that they had no availability to manage the changeo of room. Silas lied again saying that the fault came from the camp (they showed me the booking made from Apodiformes) and that all rooms had the same price.
The third day of safari we had an incident with the car, we were standing 6h waiting for the repair. The guide asked us to take it easy and ask us to eat/drink in the cafeteria that the agency would cover. This never happened, not only that, Silas knowing the issue never got in touch with us in the whole week to check how things were going. We lost one day of safari and he didn't even care.
In the agreed itinerary, later that day we had a stop at Tompson Falls for lunch. We had to argue with the guide because Silas had not informed him and did not want to stop or pay the tickets.
With all the above being said, the overall experience was very good, thanks to John (our great guide) and the staff of the camps/lodges, but I would never hire them again for the lack of honesty and service provided by Silas.
It may be slightly cheaper than other companies but the price difference does not justify having to be constantly alert, feeling cheated and with the sensation that if there had been any problem the agency would not have helped or solved anything.
CH
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
a lot of promises but reality was different
We chose this company because contact with Elija was very good... The company made a good impression and had good reviews...
We had a driver and guide Zachary... he was good at finding animals but he is not good guide. he constantly ignored our requests - it was private tour! he was all the time too late. We heard excuses all the time...
I would like to report briefly the day after the day:
1. On the first day our driver fell asleep while driving. We didn't feel safe... We thought - ok. it's first day... Maybe he had something important and couldn't get enough sleep
2. We started second day in Tsavo. It was nice there... We should go at lunchtime to Amboseli and have there afternoon game drive.. He informed us - He needs to have repaired his windshield wipers... he should know mechanic and it should take us 20 minutes. We spent 4 hours there and they didn't work. He didn't explain anything to us. we didn't get anything to eat... That day we still had to weld our shock absorbers...Zachary drove really fast on the bumpy road...
3. The third day in Amboselli was great. We hoped - it will be better... It won't be...
4. We came to Naivasha - he said us - we should pay for boat ride... we showed him on the program that this was included. He called long with Elija... In the end we didn't have to pay but that was annoying again
5. We wanted to change our program and do short hike - he told us that it will cost 20 USD... We either had to walk on dusty road or rent bikes because we couldn't get to this trail by car... we learned there that at beginn of this trail were a lot of cars... ok doesnt matter... everything cost almost 60 USD... Zachary should wait for us. We came back - he wasn't there. We called him - he said he had a flat tire on the way... We went there by bikes... that wasn't true. We waited in full sun for him one hour! We lost one hour of our game drive in the afternoon.
6. It was Friday... We were supposed to spend the afternoon of this day, the next all day and half on the next day (Sunday) in Masai Mara... Its the best park and we wanted to spent there at least. 2 days...
In the morning we were informed that the rules had changed and we would not be able to enter on the last day. If we want to do that then we have to pay extra 80 USD. Zachary advised us against it because we would have a long way to Nairobi... we suggested: we are going to Masai Mara as soon as possible and we spend more time there on this day. He agreed. On the way he didnt't talk to us... We drove to the camping site and waited there 2 hours - We didn't know what we were waiting for. We think that he didnt want to pay for 2 days in Masai Mara... It was emberassing...
7. It was great day in Masai Mara.
8. We visited Masai village and went to Nairobi... We arrived there at 4 pm and we Zachary wanted to take us to the airport (we should spent evening in restaurants... - we had a flight at 4 am and that's why we wanted to spend half a day in the national park and not in the city... I asked Elija for it in many of mails... We suggested too that we visit Masai village on first day (Friday) - Visit in Village took us only one hour... It could be a option... Zachary told us - It is impossible - Elijah asked us at airport - why didn't we do it so - We were surprised that he doesn't know it... Zachary called him a lot... Elijah did us offer and he should react if something doesn't work...
In summary: we heard excuses all the time. Driver was rude and did what he wanted. We suspect - he wanted to pay for everything and wanted to be home so fast as possible.
He suggested us that we go to airport at pm. It's not allowed in Nairobi to come into the departure lounge more than 3 hours before the flight... If we had listened to our guide, we would have spent 9 hours in front of the airport... That shows what a guide is he...
If you want to go with this company, don't pay the entire amount before the end of the trip. It was our mistake. But they made a professional impression.. I'm giving two stars because we saw a lot of animals... But the guide was unprofessional.
We want to visit Africa again but definitely not with Zachary... We thought that he didn't take Elijah seriously either. Elijah made a good impression but for a long time he didn't listen to us but to Zachary... At the airport he asked us how he could compensate us... -
(just one day instead of 1.5 in Amboseli, one day and 2 hours instead of 2 days in Masai Mara...) Sorry Elijah but you should take yours guests seriously...
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
several setbacks that have occurred during the Safari.
On Monday the 13th, ten minutes after departing in the van from Nairobi, Catherine, an employee and intermediary of African Breeze Safari, informed us that we were beginning the safari in a different order without prior consultation with us. Furthermore, she mentioned that there was no availability at the hotel we had booked (AA Lodge Masai Mara) as she had not made the reservations yet. The contract explicitly states that we were required to pay 25% in advance to reserve the hotels (Payment made on June 2, 2023). Despite this, we were accommodated in Masai Mara Camp, which was significantly different from where we had paid to stay. We didn't have water for personal hygiene and had to purchase bottled water with our own money for brushing our teeth and even showering.
Additionally, we didn't have breakfast on the two days we stayed because the camp didn't have enough food for all the people accommodated. Two of our companions even had to share a room despite having paid for individual rooms due to lack of available space.
Due to the aforementioned issues, from the first night, we contacted Catherine in an attempt to find solutions and prevent the situation from worsening. However, instead of helping, she sent a message saying, and I quote, "please focus on positivity so you can enjoy your Safari."
As I mentioned earlier, we booked this safari 3-4 months in advance, paying 25% upfront to reserve the hotels. Therefore, this should have been arranged and resolved well in advance.
I would also like to note that none of the guides had our itinerary. On August 15th, we were supposed to have lunch at Nakuru Sopa Lodge, a hotel we had already paid for, but instead, we had lunch on the way at a self-service restaurant that was nothing like where we were supposed to eat. We arrived at the hotel at 8:00 PM, leaving us only time to have dinner and sleep before leaving the next day, not being able to make the most of its facilities (which is the reason we paid for good hotels, to enjoy the safari and also relaxation).
We informed our guide (Sam) about this incident, and he mentioned that he was unaware since he didn't even have the itinerary.
The following day, the Lake Nakuru safari was rushed and completed within an hour. We didn't have time to enjoy the morning and couldn't even open the roof of the car to better appreciate the views, as it was broken. Not to mention the multiple breakdowns of the car, which required several stops to fix.
On the same day, we stopped at a shopping center to eat, paying for everything ourselves, as the picnic mentioned in the guide was once again not available.
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Messing up accomodations
Best experience of our safari was with our guide Isaac. He is a safe driver, very good game spotter and a lovely fellow. Asante sana to him.
With the accomodations Kate was supposed to organize we were not so lucky and happy.
We did the 7 day's safari with drop off at kenyan coast.
About 8 months prior we agreed with her on an itinerary that was finally matching the offer on safaribookings.com in terms of accomodations.
We paid her the deposit of 25% to make all the reservations.
When we arrived in Nairobi we've found out that there were just reservations made for the first 3 night's!
The rest of the hotels such as Sentrim Amboseli, Ngulia Lodge and Voi were not booked for us but completely full at that time in high season.
Kate is a very emotional person and was very pissed that we've found out about that prior.
We belived her to get us the acomodations of our intinerary as she promissed once again. So we paid the 75% balance of the tour in cash on the day we started, just as agreed prior.
We started without knowing where we would stay the other night's. For most of them she found somehow comparable stay's.
Except for one night. We had to stay in a
lowest budget sh*ty zero star place called "Kilimanjaro Cottages Amboseli" https://www.google.com/travel/hotels/s/3yQTuqmxLhfF4mkE8
instead of the exclusive Sentrim Amboseli Lodge, https://sentrim-amboseli-lodge.hotel-mix.de/
We requested a refund of 150$ for that.
She did not refund for that!
We didn't tip for that.
We told her to give the refund straight to the driver, so everyone is happy again.
She didn't.
We can not recommend to book through her.
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Overpriced dishonesty, don't go with them!
Unfortunately, can't recommend this company. Their offer and price doesn't reflect the actual services and the moment you have a complaint they stop responding. We booked a group mid-range safari but everyone else in the group booked a budget one, so we paid double (or triple?) and got the same service but accommodation. The jeep was far from luxury and they promised a goup of 6 ppl but ended up cramming 8 people in the small jeep most of the time. We also paid for 2 entries to Masai Mara but were taken once, while everyone else in our group went on the extra game drive and we were not told about this (!!!). The only positives were the accommodation and the driver - he was great and we managed to see plenty of animals.
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amboseli group tour not recommended
I booked a 3-day group joining tour to Amboseli in January 2023 with Grayton Expeditions and it was below expectations.
I was disappointed because :
1) although you pay for a 3 Days tour (340$) you end up with only 1 entrance to the Park (24h). The game drive for the last day ends at 8.45am as the 24h entrance expires;
2) Grayton Expeditions do not operate the tour themselves but subcontract to another company which leads to differences with the program you paid for. In my case, the tour ended up at 12:00 (not 15:00 as indicated in the program) and I was not dropped off to my hotel, but rather put in a Uber from the city center (not very safe).
I could share this feedback with Grayton which apologized for the inconvenience and was very reactive. However I cannot recommend this group tour to Amboseli with Grayton (better book a 2 days with another agency), but I think they are reliable if they operate the tour themselves as my communication was smooth with them.
IE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Be careful to avoid a trip from a nightmare
Tl Dr: If you dare to book with Glory, confirm your exact itinerary, find out who delivers the services, whether she takes responsibility for anything at all from what she sells to you and then cross your fingers to not end up like me.
I was recommended Glory by the manager of the Shoki Shoki hostel in Zanzibar city as I was looking for a last minute safari. At first she had nothing available but a few days later she contacted me on WhatsApp with an offer to join two other travelers to Mikumi on a three day trip. She sent me a picture with an itinerary, the price and the starting date.
I gladly accepted, paid on her website after checking her reviews here and looked forward to the trip to Mikumi with a visit to a Masai village teh first evening, a full day game drive the second day, a dinner show the second night and a sunrise walk up a hill the third morning with private transfers between Dar and Mikumi and meals included.
My "guide" Joseph met me at the ferry in Stonetown and put me into a car with two other people in Dar waving me goodbye after exchanging only a few sentences on the ferry.
I felt that this was a bit weird but went with it, thinking that the other man in the car is my new guide.
Our driver dropped us at a bus station outside Dar. Ar this point I started asking questions and found out that we had no guide but rather Joseph gave some cash to my fellow traveler who happened to be a very nice local man to help me get to Mikumi and to cover my share of the safari car. The agent told him that another man will pick me up at the bus stop.
This was followed by a 7 hour drive on a local public bus.
Unfortunately there was nobody at the bus stop and Joseph was not answering the calls of my fellow traveler.
At this point I contacted Glory and asked her what is happening with the visit to the Masai village, why didn't I get a private transfer and why don't I have a guide?
She told me that she never saw the itinerary she sent me. She only forwarded that as she simply outsourced me to Joseph. She didn't organize my trip ( only took a cut) and told me that the itinerary I received was never achievable from the price I paid. At this point I was fuming.
She did not want to take responsibility as in her view Joseph was the one that owed me the services.
Eventually she organized to pay for my park entry fee and my packed lunch but I had to pay my second night of accommodation, organize another bus ride back to Dar, sit on a crowded, uncomfortable bus for another 7 hours, get my own transfer from the station outside Dar to the ferry and pay for my meals on the 2nd and third day.
At the end I got a 4hr game drive in a car from around 1980 and spent 2 full days traveling there and back on some horrendous buses, spent the whole time worrying about how will I make my way back, spent an extra $50-100 on top of what I paid up front and got a lower back pain that took me two weeks to get rid of.
And what was Glory's response? It wasn't her responsibility. She trusted the wrong people but that is not her fault.
What about the fact that I paid her, based on an itinerary that she never intended to fulfil? - you may ask. She thought that was not her fault either. "I should have known that this itinerary was not achievable. "
She reassured me that no matter how I feel about this trip God understands that she is a good person and thus all is good. Let's just say that I didn't quite agree.
Would I recommend Glory's glorious travel agency? Not this time. Thanks.
Similarly, I would not pay a penny to Joseph's wonderful agency, Jodari Expeditions either.
Stay away from these people if you can.
CA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Budget should not mean poor quality....
We read many reviews of various companies and chose Karibu because they seemed to offer a very professional service, they guaranteed maximum 6 people maximum per van (so everyone has a window seat) and apparently had good guides (so many reviews said the driver/guides were excellent!). We chose a 7 day safari to Maasai Marai, Lake Naivasha, Hell’s Gate, Lake Nakuru and Amboseli. Unfortunately, we were somewhat disappointed.
Booking, communication with Robert, payment and initial pick-up all went smoothly! Yay! But then…things started taking a downward turn…first, we were told that the planned itinerary was changing because we had 4 people joining us later…no worries. This change ultimately meant we spent more time in the car (so less time doing activities) and almost 2 hours waiting for the people to join. During that first day’s amended agenda, we went to Hell’s Gate park. Our driver/guide Castro kept telling us we needed to rent bikes and that he could not drive in the park…he pretty much dropped us off to negotiate bike prices on our own, it was a rather uncomfortable situation (which quite honestly should have pre-arranged or the negotiating done by him…the guide). Being new to Kenya we had no idea what would have been a reasonable price. Anyhow, we took bikes and rode into the park with a different guide who was assigned to us without any previous explanation. We did love the experience of riding the bikes, but it became obvious that our driver had not been fully honest with us as there were many groups driving through the park and disembarking for photo opportunities. Let’s just say that this first bit of “dishonesty” did not set us up for a relationship of confidence with our guide. Many little things like this kept happening along the way and it just made us uncomfortable and even frustrated at times. In fact, on more than one occasion, so-called “optional” activities were assigned to us without choice nor with any prior information and then the person providing that activity would expect some sort of extra payment, which we were never made aware of before.
That first night we were driven to a hotel that was not in the planning that was sent to us by Robert and when we asked about it, Castro said that the other hotel had called him to say they were fully booked and that we should go to this one. Again…seemed strange but, whatever, we went with the flow. A similar thing happened to us in Maasai Mara when we arrived at a different camp than what was on the planning. Since there were now 6 in our group at this point, everyone questioned the situation and Castro just seemed annoyed with us. He did not exhibit any sort of patience and eventually, in a huff, drove us off to the other camp at which apparently no reservation had been made and we were again put in an uncomfortable situation….we were told by the camp staff that the only tents available were “luxury” tents and that we would have to pay extra. Of course we refused, and after waiting for about 20 minutes…we were all assigned regular tents, although one couple (newlyweds) had to sleep in separate single beds. Just another awkward strange situation. Something similar again happened when we arrived at our assigned camp in Amboseli. Upon arrival, we were told that the reservation for our group had never been confirmed so that they did not really have the correct number of tents for us. So as a group, we ensured the newlyweds had the best accommodation, but that meant that the other two couples ended up with subpar, lower quality rooms (not tents) for their stay there. Don’t get me wrong, the staff at this camp were outstanding and they really did everything they could to make us comfortable (thank you Henry), the problem here lies with Karibu.
We did fully enjoy the game drives though and I must say, Castro was an excellent driver. He got us close to the animals and did everything possible to find them. That being said, he was really not a good guide. I realize this was a budget safari but basic guiding is not hard to provide (having worked in the tourism industry I feel I am well placed to say so). Simple basic information about the animals, people and places would have been appreciated. Common courtesies such as saying “Good morning, how are you?’’ or smiling on occasion do not cost the company or the guide any more and they make a big difference in the client’s experience. On some days Castro barely spoke to us and getting simple information about our day’s itinerary was at times like pulling teeth. We had to ask for water on many occasions and it felt like it was an inconvenience for Castro to give it to us, when it was supposed to be provided. Some days we got a small bottle each, some days we didn’t even get any. On one day, when we mentioned this, we got a snarky response from Castro of “well…did you ask for it?’’. Unfortunately, his attitude made us feel unwelcome and more of a burden to him than anything. We eventually all just pretty much stopped asking questions and tried to enjoy our game drives as much as possible.
There are probably another half dozen situations I could describe here that made our experience much less enjoyable than it could have been (not to mention the vehicle break-down which ended up having us wait for 5 hours for a replacement vehicle….these things happen of course, but it was the poor communication of it all and the lack of apology or any sense of compassion that made it a bad situation or the fact that there ended up being 7 of us in the van and we had to argue to ensure we remained at 6) , but I will limit myself to these.
Again, we saw some amazing animals. The game drives were excellent. But the guiding, organization and communication were very disappointing and quite below even a budget safari standards.
I would think twice before booking with Karibu.
SE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Not recommendable! Book your safari with a different operator, safe the trouple!
I booked the 5-Day Group Joining - Manyara, Serengeti and Ngorongoro luxury package with Seven Wonders Safaris.
Initially everything was really great. Evelyn helped me greatly with getting my lost luggage from the airline to the hotel, all the driving worked out really great and the first day we changed the schedule from Manyara to Tarangire (more animals in Tarangire). We had a wonderful day at Tarangire. The driver Nestory was very experienced and a great park driver/guide. The disaster started from day 2!
I got picked up 2h delayed by an old driver called Abdul. Instead of driving towards Serengeti we drove back towards Arusha to pick up other people from the shared Safari. Why he didn't pick up the others first and me last was unclear to all of us. After arriving at the camp side, we had been told that one of the cars is damaged and the entire group of 12 people needs therefore to wait here for a replacement car to arrive. After having lunch and waiting another 2 hours we finally started the drive towards Serengeti. The drive didn't last very long since the police stopped us and denied us the drive, since the car lacked the permit to transport passengers. After waiting for approx another hours we finally started driving to Serengeti. We arrived the Serengeti park entrance just a few min before they closed the gate around 6 in the evening. From there its another 1h drive to the accommodations/camp sides. Here is where the real mess started. Abdul had clearly no idea where any camp side was. So we spend the coming 5h driving through the dark Serengeti Park, while helping the driver with google satellite images. Abdul constantly insisted that he knows the way, while it was very obvious that he was just randomly driving around (trying to enter roads with clear signs private only, making turns all the time, messing up left/right etc). After 5h I gave up finding my accommodation and we drove back to the main camp side, where we figured out that the car with the cook and tents never made it to the campsite. So the majority of the group had to asked complete strangers if they could join them in their tents without a mattress and sleeping bag. Since it was already 1am I decided to sleep with the driver in the car. Luckily for me the damaged car with the tents arrived in the middle of the night and I got a tent to sleep in for a few hours. During the entire day Seven Wonders ignored all our messages! We could reach anyone in their office. Even the day after I got mostly ignored by Evelyn. This was not the luxury version of safari that I pictured.
I am deeply sad to see how bad the company is handling problems. I can totally see how you can have a great time with Seven Wonders, but be aware that the moment anyone runs into problems, you will be let alone by the company. Problems can and will arise, its the way you handle them and how you communicate with your clients!
Seven Wonders tried to make things good the coming days, by providing me with a private driver and refunding part of the trip, which is the reason why I gave one extra point in the rating. But I would not recommend this tour organizer to anyone!
Maybe worth mentioning that paperwork was done wrongly when we left Serengeti and the driver had to bribe the guards to let us leave the park. Also the transport from Ngorongoro to Arusha lacked some kind of documents, so we were driving around police checkpoints or bribing the police officers to keep going.